A trip to Spain in the heart of DC

How our team is building an amazing wine program

People of the world, it is Memorial Day in the U.S., a time to remember and honor. It also is the beginning of summer, and I know many of you will be outside, if the weather is okay, spending time with friends and family. And because it’s grilling season, you can be excited for Wednesday’s recipe, because I think you’ll enjoy having a new excuse to fire up the grill!

Today I want to introduce to you an important member of the team at The Bazaar here in Washington, D.C.: Jeff Norton, Lead Sommelier. Jeff has a unique opportunity—being a sommelier in a restaurant in one of DC’s classic hotels, the Waldorf-Astoria—to bring customers not only what they want, but also to help pique their curiosity about wines they’ve never tried.

If you’ve never been to The Bazaar in DC, you should definitely come visit us! It’s in the beautiful Old Post Office building in the heart of the city, over 120 years old, with a soaring atrium and beautiful stone arches everywhere you look. Jeff and his team have done an amazing job building the wine program to provide customers with anything they could possibly want…whether it’s something familiar or an adventure into the unknown.

Jeff Norton is the Lead Sommelier at Bazaar in DC

Let’s hear from Jeff!

How did you originally get into wine?

I come from a kind of nontraditional wine background, in that I am not trained through any formal organization—I've done it through working in restaurants for 18 years in various capacities, starting in Birmingham, Alabama, at a restaurant called Cafe Dupont. I was naturally curious, and would ask a lot of questions…like, what’s a Sancerre? And a veteran server explained what it was. So I started buying reference books and paying attention in various restaurants where I worked. From there, I moved to Charlotte, North Carolina, and began working in an Italian restaurant with a 1,000-bottle list…so I had to start learning Italian wines! When I moved to DC, I worked at a few places with eclectic wine lists, including a Michelin-starred place, and moved more and more directly into wine.

How did you come to work at José Andrés Group?

I knew some people who worked here and knew the current wine director was moving on. And Chef José has a reputation for integrity in this town, and a good reputation among people who work for him. When I started dating my girlfriend a couple of years ago, before I’d ever thought of working here, she had asked me about my dream restaurants in DC. And I literally said: “I’d love to work for José Andrés.” It’s been amazing for that dream to come to life.

What stands out to you about the wine program at Bazaar DC?

DC is an international destination and because we’re in a hotel, we have guests from all over the place, so the list needs to provide something for everybody. But really, if you look at the wine list today, we’re telling the story of Spanish wine. Of course we have everything from the traditional Crianzas to Gran Reservas in Rioja, but I also like to steer people over to winemakers like Raúl Peréz, and others like him, who are modernizing wine in Spain—looking at it from a perspective of terroir and individual areas and regions, rather than the grape and the aging process. The list has all the traditional things you could want, like Tempranillo and Alabariño, but some of these other wines are telling a bigger story about Spain’s current contributions to wine. Every wine has its story, and every winemaker has a reason why they got into the business. But on the floor of the restaurant, we’re always trying to find the best way to match the wine with the individual. I need to figure out how the person tastes and maybe more importantly thinks about wine. Then you can really match them up with the perfect thing.

The Bazaar in DC is an inviting space inside the beautiful and historic Waldorf Astoria

Any fun or interesting pairings you’re particularly proud of?

As you know, sometimes sherry can be a tough sell to people who aren’t familiar with it, but we find ways to introduce it. On Chef José’s ultimate tasting menu, we always start with a sherry, generally a Manzanilla, because there’s a lot of harmony with the food and it’s a great entry point. From there, you can talk about Sanlúcar and flor aging, and it’s an opportunity to educate people on sherry and give them a mild introduction to it. We do have a sherry flight, and I’ll try to gauge the customer’s interest by asking them if they’d like me to take a few minutes to go through it and talk about how each sherry shows the progression of the style and how people drink it throughout a meal.

What’s in your personal wine cellar right now?

I love white wine, and for the past year I've been loving Viura from Rioja. White burgundies have always been my favorite wines, and Viura is now starting to compete with them in terms of style…you can get a lot of body, but they’re also light and racy. I’d love to do a wine dinner with them at some point—my favorite winemaker is Juan Valdelana, and hopefully we can do that later this fall after the harvest.

If you were having dinner at the Bazaar and someone else was paying, what’s the wine you’re drinking?

The Bazaar is meant to be fun, it’s meant to be a bit of a show. We have cloud cocktails! We have wonderful foams. We have playful expressions of various dishes. So I try, with my team, to reflect that in the wine list as well. So if someone else is paying, and I could truly choose whichever wine I wanted, it could be the Rafael Palacios “Sorte O Soro,” or the Juan Valdelana “Finca Senda de las Damas” from Bodegas Valdelana. He made 338 bottles of it, and we were able to get some of it. I don't have to taste it again to know what it tastes like. It's just so perfect.

And finally, If you were stranded on a desert island, what wine would you drink?

It’s hard to top Kara Daving, because her answer was so practical! I think I’d have to choose a red, because white would have to be chilled. It would probably be Domaine Mongeard-Mugneret, a Burgundy winemaker that I absolutely adore. It would not matter which one…anything that they make.

José here again—whether you live in DC or are visiting, stop by The Bazaar at the Waldorf Astoria and visit Jeff and his team. I know they will take good care of you, and you might discover something new that you love!